Fischer History

	Comments by C.W.Fischer:

	The paragraphs below (normal type) and the comments on the 
Oensbach letter have been taken from Maurice Kelly's 1980 booklet. The
exact date that Philip, Caroline and family arrived in North America 
at this point in time is uncertain. Assuming the dates when William 
was baptised in Germany and John baptised in Canada are correct then 
they must have arrived between May 1834 and October 1836 as these are 
the dates when William was baptised in Germany and John was baptised 
in Canada. William's obituary states that he was one year old when he 
came to Canada. Hence, spring 1835 is the most likely date. On the 
other hand, Anthon Wilhelm's obituary states that they came to America
in 1833, then Anthon married in Buffalo N.Y. in 1835, and then moved 
to Dundas.  Since it's very likely that the Wilhelm's and Fischer's 
travelled together, there's a difficulty with the date 1833 and 
Williams baptism in Germany. The 1835 data of emigrating to Canada is 
probably correct. The question to be answered is; when did they set 
foot on the North American shore?  Hopefully, passenger ship records 
can be found to pin down the exact date.

	Mr. Kelly's comments regarding the Oensbach letter's date
and who requested it are suspect.  The letter is typed and since
the typewriter had not been invented in 1835, the letter must have
been requested by someone at a much later date.
	Hopfully someone can clear up this mystery.

	In the comments on the Oensbach Letter it's
been concluded that the letter was typed, signed and sealed on
Dec.13, 1835. On pocketing the letter at that time of year, one
cannot see them hurrying off to a seaport with their children to
spend a dreary Christmas below deck on a sailing ship wallowing in
the stormy North Atlantic in winter. Surely they spent their last
European Christmas in familiar surroundings, within the peal of
church bells.
          
         But once Christmas, and perhaps New Year's was past,
their slogan must have been, "Let's be on our way!" Germans had
been emigrating to Upper Canada since the 1820's and word had no
doubt come back, "Leave early' so you get to your destination in
Canada before the spring break-up, when roads through the Canada
bush become impassable quagmires. With bush growing close on both
sides of the narrow roads, and no gravel used, it takes many
weeks till they become dry and firm again. Count on the passage
taking at least six weeks to New York." So, it was very likely
early in January when the Fischers entrusted their five lives to
the captain of a sailing ship for whatever better prospect they
thought they saw spread for them in Canada. For many immigrants,
the better prospect was not so much for them, as for their
children.
         
         We've lost the tradition of how the Fischers came. Yet
there seems little doubt that they travelled the same route as
their countrymen, the Brohmans, Graffs Dolls and their Alsatian
neighbours across the Rhine, the Anstetts.

         In those years, ships from the Continent sailed for New
York, not for Quebec or Montreal, as some British ships would.
And since 1825, when the Erie Canal was completed, there was easy
access to Niagara from New York. From New York they would steam
up the Hudson River, for in 1836 there were steam-powered
paddlewheelers on the Hudson and St. Lawrence Rivers and on some
of the Great Lakes. At Troy, N.Y. they would transfer to a canal
barge for a slow, two-mile-an-hour progress on the 363-mile-long
Canal to the vicinity of Buffalo. The barges, equipped with long
ropes, were drawn by mule- or horse-teams clomping along the bank
of the canal, and pausing at each of its thirty-four locks.
         
         It was a week's travel from New York to Buffalo, but the 
waterway made smooth and easy travel, much better than riding the
stage-coach from Montreal to Toronto and Dundas. And it was a
classier way to travel than the Mennonites had to use, coming
from Pennsylvania years earlier, and diminishing the distance
with each turn of their waggon wheels, or with each step of tired
feet over road and trail.
         
         North of Buffalo a ferry, upstream from the Falls,
crossed the Niagara River in summer to Fort Erie. But hold on a
minute! That's a summer trip. Before they left New York, the
Fischers had to be sure that the River and especially the Canal
had shed its ice.

       At New York they had decisions to make. In fact it's re-
corded that some others who settled in Waterloo made some strong
resolves before they reached New York. Some encountered storms at
sea. Whether the storms were especially violent, or whether the
land-loving migrants were mightily disturbed by the massive waves
and vast troughs in which a ship could disappear from sight, one
emigrant, a farm neighbour of the Fischers in Waterloo, made a
promise to God that if he survived the sea, he would never again
dance, which he had previously enjoyed. He did survive and he
stuck with that promise, though a priest advised him that
promises made under duress or emotional stress do not oblige one
to keep them. Others, whether at the start of the voyage, or
during storm at sea, promised to erect a cross at the front of
the first land they owned after reaching their destination. A
number of those crosses stood for many years in the
Maryhill-Ariss area. Some were even replaced when the original
wood rotted and fell. One of them may still be standing.
             
             Whether the Fischers experienced bad storms or not,
that first break in the months-long seascape when shapes of land
and structures first appeared on the horizon, and sailors assured
them "Ja, das ist New York", was certainly a joyful moment. Their
spirits could soar free of the boredom they had been enduring in
a sort of prison. They felt great and very thankful that God had
in his keeping some years yet for them to live. When they came
ashore, they had a decision to make, based on the length of the
voyage and how far into spring the North American season had
advanced. Ice would clear from the Hudson River early, from the
Canal much later. If they had a relatively short crossing of the
ocean, they would be advised to take sleigh or stage-coach to
Buffalo. There was only one very short railway, of no use to
them, in America. Beyond Buffalo, if they were early, they would
cross a stretch of ice at the end of Lake Erie to Fort Erie,
leaving United States territory behind them on the way over.
        
             One has to wonder why they didn't cut short their
journey and remain in the United States, and why they were
emigrating from their homeland. It's said that they left Europe
to escape the domination by the military. Many are known to have
come for that reason. They had to have strong reasons for leaving
a good land described as beautiful, the low land along the Rhine
River watered by many streams flowing down out of the Black
Forest.             
             If military service was a consideration of Philip
for himself or for his son, William, the job market was another
more pressing reason. Much of Europe was under the guild system.
Every lad learned at trade. There were so many blacksmiths,
stone-masons, carpenters and framers, etc. that competition for
jobs must have been severe and wages pitiful. In British North
America's hinterland, where the main business was making farm
land, there would be work for tradesmen, especially blacksmiths.
And there was plenty of cheap land if you wanted it. Whereas in
Baden, rural people made a poor living on ridiculously small
acreages.

        It's less easy to understand why the Fischers did not
settle in the United States. It looks as if they were just
following other Germans and Alsatians who had been coming to the
Waterloo territory in Canada. The fact that German-speaking
Mennonites had left Pennsylvania for Waterloo may have appeared
like a warning. Whatever their reasons, the Fischers were here.
From Fort Erie the road led northward through farmlands along the
Niagara River to Chippawa and the Falls. If they were early, the
road was just a sleigh track. If they were late, it was a somewhat
muddy dirt track. If by sleigh, they would make the trip with their
heavy trunk and Philip's tools, with sleigh-bells jangling.

    It was Simcoe, the first Governor of the territory from
1791-1799 who ordered that bells be attached to horse-drawn
sledges to give warning of their approach. If the track didn't
cut away from the River too soon, before turning westerly for
Dundas, they would certainly stop and see the Falls. In fact,
I've heard it said that they did see the Falls.
    

   This land which the Fischers were entering was the British Province
of Upper Canada, so designated by 
the Constitutional Act passed by the British Parliament in 1791. 
Previously there had been just one Canada province with its government
at Quebec. Now, that one was named Lower Canada, because it was 
downstream on the St. Lawrence River system from Upper Canada.

  John Graves Simcoe had been appointed Lieutenant Governor of the new
Province. By July,1792, he and his aides and a regiment of troops, 
given him for security and other duties, had arrived at Newark on the 
Niagara for the formal inauguration of the new Government. One could 
say that this was also the official opening of the Province to 
immigration. (A few years later, Simcoe moved the seat of government 
to York (Toronto).

	At that time (1792) there were only about 10,000 people, 
apart from an unknown number of native Indians, in the whole 
territory. The settlers were mostly Loyalists, who had started coming 
to this British dominion after the American War of Independence and 
the Peace Treaty of 1783. Most had settled along  the St. 
Lawrence River from Kingston downstream towards Montreal. There were 
also small settlements here along the Niagara and much farther west 
along the Detroit. The Governor encouraged more immigration from the 
United States and Europe. But he returned to England with his 
expansive ideas in 1799.

 The War of 1812-1814 had been fought in the mentioned settlements and
on the Lakes. After this War and the end of the war with Napoleon in 
Europe in 1815, many soldiers from disbanded British regiments settled
in Upper Canada. In fact, as early as 1802, a regiment of Scots 
Glengarry Fencibles had come to settle along the Ottawa River, when 
released from service, after a temporary truce was arranged between 
British and French armies operating in Spain. Understandably, the 
Fencibles called their settlement Glengarry.

	Starting about 1800, some Mennonites from Pennsylvania had
penetrated the interior of Upper Canada to Waterloo territory,
Families and larger groups of them followed. By the late 1820's
the trickle of immigrants became more of a flow, with Germans and
Alsatians heading for Waterloo, and people from the British Isles
scattering to various settlements , including Guelph which they
founded in 1826.

	As population increased, there was need also for church 
organization in Upper Canada, independent from the hierarchy in far-
off Quebec. In 1804, Rev. Alexander Macdonell, who had been chaplain 
of the Glengarry Fencibles Regiment in Spain, came to the Glengarry 
settlement on the Ottawa. Because he had been well respected in his 
Regiment and was so obviously loyal to British interests, he was a man
suitable for promotion in the new province. In 1807 he was appointed 
Vicar General and in 1819 Vicar Apostolic. In 1826 he was made Bishop 
of Upper Canada with headquarters at Kingston.

	At that time (1826) there were only eleven Catholic priests in
the whole province. Several were at places on the Niagara. One was 
sent to start a church at Dundas. Fathers Cullen and Cassidy traveled 
to serve the many missions in the interior. But they spoke no German. 
So Bishop Macdonell obtained an Alsatian priest, Father Wiriath, to 
serve the German settlements at New Germany, St. Agatha and other 
missions. He came in 1834, but developed poor health and returned in 
June 1837 to his native Alsace. Some months later, Father Peter 
Schneider arrived. He was followed by more German-speaking priests.

	So the Fischers in the spring of 1836 were not heading into a 
complete wilderness, And surprisingly, they did not travel on to the 
German-speaking settlements. For reasons we can only guess at, they 
halted and remained at Dundas.

 Perhaps the Atlantic crossing had taken much more than two 
months and the road to the interior had turned to mush in the spring 
break-up. Or, with three small children, perhaps they didn't fancy the
thought of taking them into the interior as prey for wolves, European 
wolves are said to have been bolder and fiercer than the American 
breed. Early settlers from Europe feared wolves and brought tales from
there of children devoured by wolves. It's recalled that the Schulers,
early settlers at St. Agatha, until they had their first cabin built, 
kept fires burning at night to scare off the wolves.

	Dundas was an active little place at the western point of Lake
Ontario. It had earlier been called King's landing, because boats
off the Lake could take on cargo or unload there. It was the hub
where roads converged. It was at the junction where the road up
from Niagara met the road from Toronto along the north shore of
Lake Ontario. Toronto had been incorporated as a city in 1834
with a population of 10,000.  Dundas was also the gateway  to the
interior, with a road west to the Mohawk village (Brantford) on
the Grand River, and a road north-west to Guelph and the German
settlements.

	Maybe Philip found work at Dundas and the place appealed to
them. It had a church since 1828 and a resident priest since
1834, though it was Rev. J.B. Fox and English~speaking. The
settlement must also have had at least one doctor.  At Dundas,
another Fischer immigrant arrived, son John, on October 26, 1836.
When he was baptized by Father John Cassidy on August 27, 1837,
the Fischers and godparents got their names inserted into
Canadian records, leaving clues for any historian of the Fischers
to trace later. Because of the ten-month span between John's
birth and baptism, we could not be sure he was born in Canada if
the Canada Census didn't show that he was born here. Both 1851
and 1861 records show it. The mentioned ten-month span would
suggest that John was a healthy baby.

	That's all we know of the Fischers stay at Dundas. I
think we have to conclude from their stopping there that Philip
practised his blacksmith trade, as he seems to have done in
Waterloo  before he bought the farm in 1846. A german-speaking
immigrant who spoke hardly any English could not be very
successful in Dundas, an English-speaking settlement. So it's no
surprise that he didn't stay there long. Another Fischer son,
George, was born in April 1839. When he was baptized in August,
the family was in Waterloo, says the record.

	The Chepstow Fischers, who have always believed that the
Fischers and Neustadt Webers, who used to visit back and forth,
were related, will find the godmother of the Fischer boys
interesting. John's godmother at Dundas was Hanna Weaver.
George's godmother in Waterloo was Johana Weber and, in 1848,
Joseph's godmother at St. Agatha was Joanne Weber. Those various
spellings all represent the same name and one person. It's
understandable that Father John Cassidy used an English spelling.
Joanne moved as the Fischers moved. Did they perhaps emigrate on
the same ship.

	It would be interesting to inspect the ship's passenger
list, if the ship's name can be found, as we think it can.
Fischers and Webers were close. When Joanne Weber married Anton
Wilhelm I and had sons Anthony and Joseph, her two youngest,
Margaret Fischer was godmother for both. It would be interesting
to see the baptismal records of the four Wilhelm daughters,
especially Caroline, to see if Mrs. Fischer was god-mother. When
Frederica Fischer married Joseph Strub II in 1850, Gregor Weber
was one of the attendants.         


             The Fischers in Waterloo Township

        No record has been found, nor comment heard, telling where
in Waterloo territory the Fischers were living before they bought
the farm near Strasburg in 1846. It was paid for in cash. There
was no mortgage.

     There's an old story that Philip detested chickens. On his
farm lot there was about half an acre of land which belonged to a
neighbour, John Stoeckle and wife Esther. (John had bought his
216 acres in 1835. A John Stoeckle still owns that land including
the Fischer farm later bought from George Fischer.) John of 1846
is said to have casually put it to Philip that, "One never knows.
Some day someone might come along and want to buy that half acre
and build a CHICKEN HOUSE on it."
                
   That half acre was quite close to Philip's house. After
mulling that over in his mind, Philip became keenly interested in
buying that precious half acre. John was pleased to sell it to
him for what was thought to be three times its worth at the time.
We can be sure that in those days before commercialized humour
and television, the story raised many a merry chuckle as it made
the rounds of the community.
                
     The story must be true. Land Registry records show that on
November 13, 1846 John Stoeckle sold two roods, ten perches
(9/16ths of an acre) of land in the David Heistand's Tract to
Philip Fischer. Later, well rid of the "chicken" threat,Philip 
built a new frame house. The story is that he planted it on that 
half acre to keep and to hold it permanently.
                
   Philip bought his farm in 1846. In late June the Corn Laws
were repealed in Britain. This removed the preference on buying 
wheat from the colonies. Prices dropped and depression ensued in
Canada. Philip had not bought his farm at an ideal time. Yet, in
the long run, the timing was quite satisfactory. The Fischers were
apparently not in debt, and so in a fair position to ride out the
bad years. Meantime Philip was likely clearing more land for the
good years ahead and his two sturdy young farm boys, John and
George were growing.                
 
   By 1850 markets began to improve. In 1854 prices rose sharply
when Britain entered the Crimean War. That same year in Canada
Reciprocity with the United States opened up markets for wheat
and other farm products in the fast-growing American cities,
especially Chicago. Then the American Civil War (1861-1865)
continued the good markets and also created opportunities for
Canadian young men to work for high wages in American coal mines
and steel plants to produce munitions, while so many American
lads were marching in the armies or training on parade grounds.
                
  The Philip Fischers must have prospered in Canada after what
was likely a poor beginning at Dundas. By Civil War time Philip
had two farms. He had bought another hundred acres in September
1859. He didn't have the money to pay for it. It was mortgaged.
But it was a good time to buy.  The 1861  map of Waterloo
township shows Philip Fischer, and John Fischer on farm's north-west of
Strasburg. Another in the vicinity appears as Wm. Fisher and Anton
Wilhelm on two farms at Williamsburg.
                

                St. Mary's Church, Berlin (Kitchener)     

    The Fischers had a share in the building of the original St.
Mary's church in Berlin. This is clear from page 98 of Father
Spetz's History of the church in Waterloo County. He wrote in
1916 about the situation in 1852-3'  "The Catholics of Strasburg
and Williamsburg south of Berlin were planning a church. At
Anthony Wilhelm's farm they had already gathered considerable
building material for it."
         
     The Fischers were certainly involved in any church building
the Anton Wilhelms were involved in. It's believed, on bits of
evidence, that Anton Wilhelm was related to, or was likely a
brother to Mrs. Fischer. Also Anton's wife Joanne Weber had close
connections with the Fischers, as already mentioned.
         
         Nevertheless, the Wilhelms, Fischers and others involved
never built their church at Strasburg, nor at Williamsburg, which
was doubtless where they intended to build, seeing that the
material was stored on the Wilhelm farm. Very likely it was on a
piece of Anton's land that they intended to build.
    
    Father Ebner, S.J. the priest at St. Agatha 1848-1855,the
parish priest of the Fischers and Wilhelms steered their plans in
another direction. He wanted to see a church built at Berlin,
because in 1852 Berlin had been chosen to be the County Seat, and
was certain to grow, though at the time there were few Catholics
in Berlin.
    
    Father Ebner argued that there was little prospect for growth
in their communities, since many' especially the young people,
were moving to "Saugeen" meaning the land drained by the  Saugeen
River in Bruce and Grey Counties. There they could make
themselves big farms, whereas in Waterloo, many had only a few
acres and no chance of expanding their acreage.
    
    Father Ebner proposed that if all the Catholics in and around
Berlin would unite their forces, they might, in time, create a
parish large enough for a resident priest. Otherwise, several
small parishes scattered at Williamsburg, Bridgeport and
Lexington could never expect to have regular service when priests
were still scarce. As Father Spetz tells it, Father Ebner's
advice was heeded, though with sorrow by some. Fischers and
Wilhelms must have been among the saddened ones. The Berlin
church would be only about a mile closer than the church at St.
Agatha about seven miles from their farms.
    
    Of course Father Ebner was right and his plan adopted. Anton
Wilhelm and friends sacrificed their plan for a nearby church.
But the sacrifice was just a postponement, a lengthy
postponement. There stands today a modern church on land that was
Anton Wilhelm's in the 1850's'

    It's very little that is now remembered of the Philip
Fischers during their years on the farm. However, from various
records, some events in their lives can be listed.

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